Apparatus for cutting flexible material



(No Model.

F. A. FOWLER.

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

Patented Mar. 29, 1887.

u u I UNITED STATES FREDERICK A. FO\VLER, OF NEWV HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

PATENT Glance.

APPARATUS FOR CUTTING FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 360,149, dated March 29, 1E 87.

Application filed September 30,1885.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be itknown that I, FREDERICK A. FOWLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Cutting Flexible Material into Pieces having Beveled Edges,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to means for cutting flexible material into pieces having beveled edges. Prior to my invention I believe such pieces have been cut by hand only, so that my present invention is the first instance of an apparatus for cutting by machinery flexible material into pieces having a beveled edge. Pieces of cloth, rubber, or other flexible ma terial may be cut with such a beveled edge, in order to facilitate their attachment to some other object, or for the purpose of ornamentation, or for any desired purpose.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of one form of holder and knife for cutting flexible material into pieces having a beveled edge. Fig. 2 is a like View of another holder and knife for the same purpose. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the pieces thus cut, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the same.

My knife, punch,and holder maybe secured within any ordinary machine-as, for instance, a power-press, so that the punch may be forced into the hollow knife or die, or vice versa. As herein illustrated, the holder consists of the punch and follower.

A designates the hollow knife or female die, and B the punch. \Vith apunch having a projecting face, as in Fig. 1, the material to be cut may be drawn tightly over said face and held there as the punch enters the die; but I prefer to employ a follower placed inside of the hollow knife or die and recessed for the projecting punch, as in Fig. 1, so as to substantially conform to the face of the punch. The follower may, however, have a projecting face, while the punch is recessed, as shown in Fig. 2. This follower or plunger 0, I mount preferably upon a spring, 0, or springs, so that when in its normal position it will project above the cutting-edge of the knife A, and

when depressed by the punch, as it enters the hollow knife or die, it will yield and not interfere with the operation of the punch.

Serial No. 178,615. (No model.)

I have represented the tools and the pieces cut as being round; but any desired shape may be cut by making the tools correspond to said shape of the pieces to be cut.

A sheet of flexible material is placed be tween the punch B and follower O, and the punch forced toward the hollow knife or die A, or vice versa. The punch B deflects the sheet by pressure against the face of the follower, thereby causing the material to lie at the desired angle to the cutting action of the knife, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The stock to be cut is then held at this angle. The punch, follower, and stock all move together until the cutting has been effected by the punch entering the knife. The parts then return and the piece of work so cut is removed, and after being flattened out will be found to have a beveled-,edge, d, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

It will of course be understood that the shape of the faces ofthe follower and punch at points remote from the cutting-edge is immaterial, so long as the material to be cut is held at the proper angle. The faces of the punch and follower may, if desired, be different at certain points with reference to the contour of the pieces cut, so as to hold parts of the stock at different angles to the knife, and thus produce a beveled edge whose angle of inclination varies at different points in the contour of the piecethus cut; orthe piece may, ifdesired, have a beveled edge for only a portion of its contour. WVhile I prefer at all times to use the hollow knife or die A, it is evident that when the material is held as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a hand-knife may be employed to run around the punch and make the cut, using the vertical sides of the punch and follower,which are substantially in alignment with each other, as a gage for the knife, and that in such case the direction of cut would be the same as when out with the knife A, and would also be uniform upon all sides. Even with a hand-knife and such a holder pieces having beveled edges may be out very rapidly.

The herein described method of cutting flexible material into pieces having a beveled edge is described and claimed in my application Serial No. 168,841, filed June 16, 1885.

I claim as my invention 1. A 'mechanism for cutting cloth, rubber, or similar flexible material into pieces each given angle or angles along the cutting-line of said punch, the vertical'walls of said punch terminating in said cutting line, while the sides of the follower are substantially in alignment therewith, substantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of the hollow knife or die A, the follower within said hollow knife or die, and the punch, said punch and follower having respectively recessed and projecting 20 faces fitting into each other, for deflecting along the cutting-line of said die and punch the material placed between them into a given angle or angles and holding it thus deflected during the cutting action of said die and punch, sub- 25 stantially as described, and for the purpose specified.

FREDERICK A. FOWVLER.

\Vi tnesses:

HUNTER WYKEs, EDWARD MoRIAR'rY. 

